I'm building up a nice little 1/1000 fleet, and Relaint would be a nice addition!

Coincidentally, I'm finishing up a special model build as we speak, and will post pictures soon.

It's also been nice to see the repops of the larger AMT/ERTL kits, like Reliant and the original AMT Enterprise. Heck, I might even go for a re-release of the 1/1000 Excelsior (if mainly for the challenge)--which is said to be in the works--, especially if it had improved tooling and decals, as the other re-releases have.

The 1/350 stuff is great, too, but space and material considerations make those kits for the more hardcore builders.

That said, I've seen some of the work done with the 1/350 "A" kit, and I'm blown away. For example:

Yes, some of those 1/350 Refit mods are incredible... Especially the ones putting in a fully lighted & tricked out shuttle bay.

The Starship Modeler Forum members who went to Wonderfest 2010 reported back with an ambivalent response from Round2 regarding the 1/350 TOS kit ever being produced. The basic gist was, does Round2 sink enough financial capital to produce one big expensive Trek kit, or 3 smaller more affordable Trek kits? It sounds like they're gravitating toward the latter, but that's what the feedback questionnaire is about.

I do hope they go the 1/1000 USS Reliant & K'Tinga route, because I could turn one of my Enterprise Refits into a TWOK one, and (with after-market 1701-A decals) do TUC set up on the other, with the K'Tinga as Kronos One.

Hmmm... I think I'll need another Refit kit just for the pristine TMP look...

I won't ever pick up that Round2 release of the Abramsprise, but a USS Kelvin might be tempting. The design of the Kelvin has an interesting Constitution-class refit "test-bed" look to it, despite it predating the TOS in the movie timeline.

The Refit is a sweet little kit. There are a few inaccuracies, but it's very impressive for the scale. The decals have a few problems--and there's no "A" option, but Round2 will release a supplemental sheet later this year. There are already aftermarket decal sheets covering the "A", as well as battle damage from II, III, V, and VI.

If I had the time, space, talent, and money, I'd love to get and trick out one of the 1/350 kits.

As it stands, I'm going to do a 1/1000 "A" as a test run, and then a pristine Refit. I may even discard the aztec decals for the latter, and use painting templates and pearlescent paints. My eyes will probably cross from doing such tiny work, but I seen a few builds already that have used that method.

And, of course, there's the special project I hinted at above. It's turned out really well, and I'll post some photos soon.

As for the Abramsverse...there's a crazy part of me that might want to get the Nu-Enterprise just for the challenge (and to see if it suffers from Sagging Nacelles Syndrome), but...NO. No, thanks.

Also, I really don't get all the Kelvin-wank. That design seems incredibly popular with modelers and blueprinters right now, but I just don't get it. Call me crazy, but it's just a boring variant of the old Franz Joseph Scout/Destroyer design.

And not one design element of the recent film comes even within hailing distance of being a logical precursor to "The Cage" or TOS in general!

There's a guy on the Starship Modeler's Forum who's been working on a corrected 1/1000 refit bridge part cast in clear resin... Going to be very popular with those wanting to light that kit if he ever gets it mass produced.

For many years, now, I've wanted to build the original Enterprise in each of its three confirgurations--first pilot ("The Cage"), second pilot ("Where No Man has Gone Before"), and production.

Polar Lights/Round2's 1/1000 kit seemed the perfect opportunity to do that. I'd done several builds of it (labeled as Constitution and Lexington) previously as a warm-up.

Well, back in the fall, I began work on The Enterprise Project, consisting of a buildup of each version of the ship. The goals were:

A) Practice on the pilot models in order to perfect my technique for the final, production model.

B) Work with other fans and solve some of the mysteries of the model, such as exactly what details changed between versions. We've had an ongoing thread at Starship Modeler to this effect, and have made a number of interesting discoveries (such as the existence of a red pinstripe around the bridge and tiny faux formation lights on the saucer of the first pilot model).

Well, I just finished my first pilot build. And, aside from some sloppiness on my part, it's turned out incredibly well. It may also be the most accurate "Cage" Enterprise ever built, in terms of detailing. I even went so far as to match the weathering patterns on the hull down to specific streaks of green, rust, and gray.

And, as an homage to the famous zoom-in opening shot in the pilot episode, I left the upper bridge dome clear, and inserted a tiny bridge interior decal beneath it (NOT off-center, mind you--I know there's no room for the turbolift that way, but the concept of an off-center bridge drives me a bit nuts).

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the United Spaceship Enterprise. Its one-episode mission: to explore Talos IV, to seek out survivors and rescue Captain Pike, to boldly go where the S.S. Columbia has gone before!

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot create polls in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum